The diagnosis provided by the physician at the time of admission which describes the
patient's condition upon admission to the hospital. Since the Admitting Diagnosis is
formulated before all tests and examinations are complete, it may have been stated in
the form of a problem or symptom and it may differ from any of the final diagnoses
recorded in the medical record.

Codes and Values:

Must have been a valid ICD-9-CM code excluding the decimal point. To be valid,
ICD-9-CM codes must have been entered at the most specific level to which they are
classified in the ICD-9-CM Tabular List. Three-digit codes further divided at the
four-digit level must have been entered using all four digits. Four-digit codes
further subclassified at the five-digit level must have been entered using all five
digits. Failure to enter all required digits in the diagnosis codes would have caused
the record to be rejected.

Must have been left justified and entered exactly as shown in the ICD-9-CM coding
reference, excluding the decimal point, and space filled.